Welcome to The History of Masada the mountain. The legion, consisting of 8,000 troops among which were night, on the 15th of Nissan, the first day of Passover. ENGLISH auxiliary forces, built eight camps around the base, a siege wall, and a ramp The fall of Masada was the final act in the Roman conquest of Judea. A made of earth and wooden supports on a natural slope to the west. Captive Roman auxiliary unit remained at the site until the beginning of the second Masada National Park Sources Jews brought water to the troops, apparently from En Gedi, as well as food. century CE. The story of Masada was recorded by Josephus Flavius, who was the After a siege that lasted a few months, the Romans brought a tower with a commander of the Galilee during the Great Revolt and later surrendered to battering ram up the ramp with which they began to batter the wall. The The Byzantine Period the Romans at Yodfat. At the time of Masada’s conquest he was in Rome, rebels constructed an inner support wall out of wood and earth, which the where he devoted himself to chronicling the revolt. In spite of the debate Romans then set ablaze. As Josephus describes it, when the hope of the rebels After the Romans left Masada, the fortress remained uninhabited for a few surrounding the accuracy of his accounts, its main features seem to have been dwindled, Eleazar Ben Yair gave two speeches in which he convinced the centuries. During the fifth century CE, in the Byzantine period, a monastery born out by excavation. leaders of the 960 members of the community that it would be better to take of the type known as a laura, inhabited by hermits, was founded. Some their own lives and the lives of their families than to live in shame and scholars identify the Masada monastery with a site called Marda, mentioned humiliation as Roman slaves. In Josephus’ own words: by the Church fathers. With the rise of Islam in the seventh century, the monastery apparently ceased to exist. The Hasmonean Period "Then, having chosen by lot ten of their number to dispatch the rest, they According to Josephus, the first fortress at Masada was built by "Jonathan the laid themselves down each beside his prostrate wife and children, and, The Roman siege ramp High Priest" – apparently the Hasmonean king Alexander Janaeus (103-76 BCE), flinging their arms around them, offered their throats in readiness for the The History of Masada Research whose coins were discovered in excavations of the site. Some scholars tend to executants of the melancholy office. These, having unswervingly identify Jonathan with the brother of Judah the Macabbee, who became high slaughtered all, ordained the same rule of the lot for one another, that he After the Byzantine period Masada sank into oblivion until the nineteenth Excerpts from Eleazar Ben-Yair’s Speech priest in 152 BCE. So far no architectural remains have been discovered at on whom it fell should slay first the nine and then himself last of all;… century. The first scholars to identify Masada with the plateau known in (Josephus Flavius, The Wars of the Jews, VII, 320–336) Masada that can be dated with certainty to the Hasmonean period. They had died in the belief that they had left not a soul of them alive to fall Arabic as es-Sebbeh were Smith and Robinson in 1838, and the first to climb MASADA into Roman hands; The Romans advanced to the assault…seeing none of it were Wolcott and Tipping in 1842. Warren climbed Masada in 1867, “Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be the enemy but on all sides an awful solitude, and flames within and Conder described and mapped it in 1875, Sandel discovered the water servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who NATIONAL PARK The Herodian Period silence, they were at a loss to conjecture what had happened Here system in 1905, and Schulten studied mainly the Roman siege system in alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time is now come that 1932. Herod, who ruled from 37 BCE to 4 BCE, was well aware of the strategic encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they obliges us to make that resolution true in practice. And let us not at advantages of Masada. He therefore chose the site as a refuge against his admired the nobility of their resolve and the contempt of death display by From the 1920s and especially during the 1940s, Masada became a lodestone this time bring a reproach upon ourselves for self-contradiction, while enemies, and as a winter palace. During his reign, luxurious palaces were built so many in carrying it, unwavering, into execution." for pioneering Zionist youth groups. The Hebrew translation in 1923 of "The we formerly would not undergo slavery, though it were then without Wars of the Jews" by Josephus, as well as the poem "Masada," written by here in addition to well-stocked storerooms, cisterns, and a casemate wall. (Josephus Flavius, The Wars of the Jews, VII, 395-406): danger, but must now, together with slavery, choose such Lamdan, published in 1927, brought Masada closer to the hearts of young After the death of Herod in 4 BCE and the annexation of Judea to the Roman punishments also as are intolerable; I mean this, upon the supposition Empire in 6 CE, the Romans stationed a garrison at Masada. According to Josephus, two women and five children who had been hiding people in the country's Jewish community. Shmarya Gutmann, who led Masada was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001. Its in the cisterns on the mountaintop told the Romans what had happened that numerous trips to the mountain, was particularly instrumental in transforming that the Romans once reduce us under their power while we are inscription on this prestigious list epitomizes its outstanding universal Masada into a symbol. Together with Micha Livneh and Ze’ev Meshel, alive. We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the significance, which must be protected for the benefit of all humanity. The Great Revolt Gutmann rediscovered the Northern Palace and the Snake Path in 1953. last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that Survey excavations were carried out in 1955-1956, mainly in the northern part Masada was the last bastion of Jewish freedom fighters against the Romans; Josephus relates that one of the first events of the Great Revolt of the Jews God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in of the plateau and the water system. This led to the major excavations carried its fall signaled the violent destruction of the kingdom of Judea at the end of against the Romans, which broke out in 66 CE, was the conquest of Masada a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were out by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, headed by Yigael Yadin from 1963 the Second Temple period. The tragic events of the last days of the rebels at by the Sicarii, a group that got its name from a curved dagger, the sica, which to 1965. These excavations uncovered most of Masada’s structures, along with conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain that we shall be taken within Masada transformed it into both a Jewish cultural icon and a symbol of they carried. The Sicarii were headed by Menahem, son of Judah the thousands of well-preserved artifacts that present a rare picture of the material a day’s time, but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious humanity’s continuous struggle for freedom from oppression. Galilean, who was murdered in Jerusalem in 66 CE. After the murder, Eleazar culture at the end of the Second Temple period. manner, together with our dearest friends… Built by Herod, king of Judea, Masada was a palatial fortress in the style of Ben Yair fled from Jerusalem to Masada and became commander of the rebel the ancient Roman East. The camps, fortifications, and assault ramp at its base community on the mountain. It was a varied group, which apparently During the excavations many buildings were conserved and reconstructed Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they constitute the most complete surviving ancient Roman siege system in the included Essenes and Samaritans. The last of the rebels fled to Masada after and after preparation of the site for visitors, Masada National Park was have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that world. the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE and joined those already at the fortress opened in 1966. The construction of the first cable car in 1971 increased the glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in stream of visitors. under the command of Eleazar Ben Yair. freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us. But first let us Geography The rebels, who lived in rooms in the casemate wall and in some of Herod’s After a short excavation in 1989 conducted by Ehud Netzer, excavations were destroy our money and the fortress by fire; for I am well assured that palaces, constructed a synagogue and mikvehs (Jewish ritual baths). They left renewed by the Hebrew University in 1995 in the framework of a large-scale this will be a great relief to the Romans, that they shall not be able to The plateau of Masada is located on the eastern fringe of the Judean Desert behind numerous material vestiges attesting to their community life.